On the other side of the grassland, this year's cotton wool was also sent. [Jiang Wenyuan] didn't know the skills, and was really unable to spare any time.
[Jiang Yuqing] had no choice but to temporarily entrust the affairs of the hospital to her master and senior martial brother, and concentrate on managing the affairs of the wool workshop.
The wool workshop was named by [Jiang Yuqing]. The name is simple and straightforward " [Su Prefecture] Warm [Wool Spinning Workshop]". Although there is no cultural heritage, it is better to be appropriate and easy to remember.
Then I started recruiting workers. It is planned to recruit 100 workers first, aged 15-40, regardless of gender. Requirements are healthy body and dexterous mind. Those who are handy are preferred.
The salary is forty texts per day.
There are also some miscellaneous duties, mainly responsible for logistics and some miscellaneous activities.
As soon as the news came out, the [Su Prefecture] people who had been staring here swarmed in and blocked the door of the workshop.
[Jiang Yuqing] only used one day to fill the number of people, and there were still many who were unavoidably sad and disappointed because they did not apply. [Jiang Yuqing] comforted them and told them not to be sad. The business of the workshop will be better in the future, and there will definitely be more recruitment.
So everyone's eyes were filled with more hope.
[Jiang Yuqing] understood them too well.
They are poor not because they are lazy, but because this society simply does not have so many job opportunities to make money.
Two days later, the workshop started trial production. Because the 17 skilled workers previously trained by [Jiang Yuqing] have now all become qualified nurses at [He An Hospital].
[Jiang Yuqing] had no choice but to dig her own corner and temporarily transfer half of them from the hospital to temporarily serve as masters, which was also inevitable.
As for the master of printing and dyeing, it was also pulled over by [Jiang Wenyuan] at a high price from the neighboring state with a favor.
After half a month of hand-in-hand teaching, the workshop finally got on the right track. [Jiang Yuqing] only left [Luo Zhi], the "technical consultant". The rest were returned to [He An Hospital].
After all, female workers are easy to find and train. Nursing and other types of work requiring certain technical content are not something that anyone can use. At the very least, you have to be literate!
[Jiang Yuqing] found a housekeeper who her father trusted and had some management experience to manage the workshop on her behalf.
Her father brought her a person the next day.
This person is called [Ju Fan]. He was originally a big businessman in [Jin Prefecture]. In the early years, he accidentally offended the prefect of [Jin Prefecture] at that time, and his family was ruined. He had no choice but to leave his hometown and run to [Su Prefecture] to rely on a distant cousin who was a small official here.
Later, the prefect of [Jin Prefecture] was punished, and his grievance was finally revealed, but what was lost could not be recovered. He was also unwilling to return to that sad place, so he stayed in [Su Prefecture] all the time.
[Jiang Yuqing] secretly observed him for two days, and felt that this person has a steady personality, decisive action and principle, and is indeed a good material for management.
So she officially appointed him as the head of the workshop.
After finishing the wool workshop, [Jiang Yuqing] lost a full circle. Looking at her belly that finally disappeared, she nodded in satisfaction. In this way, no one would attack her for being fat anymore.
Although the dumpling was satisfied, her parents were heartbroken. Her mother changed her methods every day to make delicious food for her, trying to feed her daughter back.
[Jiang Yuqing] ate what she should eat, but gaining back her original fleshy body was absolutely impossible.
The grassland area in [Su Prefecture] is not large, and the wool sent is only enough for three months of production, of course it is not enough. You have to think of a way.
She mentioned this to her father. [Jiang Wenyuan] said, "This is easy to handle. In addition to the Xiongnu, there are many tribes outside the Guan Grassland. Every two months, they will drive sheep or horses into Guan to exchange some necessities of life in [Su Prefecture].
As long as we spread the news and collect cotton wool, there will definitely be many people willing to send it."
Only then did [Jiang Yuqing] feel relieved.
Strictly speaking, the land five hundred li west of [Yumen Pass] originally belonged to the Central Plains dynasty. It's just that the previous dynasty lost these territories in vain.
After the Great Xia dynasty was established, it became difficult to recover them. Thinking of the vast grasslands, tears flowed from the corners of [Jiang Yuqing]'s mouth.
If those grasslands could return to the embrace of Great Xia, then you can raise as many sheep as you want.
Of course, now I can only think about it.
The Han who sold melon seeds also sent all the dried seeds, a total of 1,343 catties.
[Jiang Yuqing]’s purchase price was 15 texts per catty, 1,343 catties, that is, 20 taels and 145 texts. After deducting the five taels deposit given to him earlier, [Jiang Yuqing] gave him another 15 taels and 145 texts.
The melon seeds that were thought to be unwanted were all sold, and they were sold at a good price. The Han was so excited that his hands were shaking.
With this silver, my mother has money for medicine, the big son's bride price is available, and two more rooms can be built.
The Han asked, will you want it next year if I plant it? [Jiang Yuqing] told him to plant boldly. No matter how much he plants, she wants it all. Even if it can't be sold for so much silver in the future, the price won't be much lower.
The Han happily agreed and said, "I have kept enough seeds. I will lead everyone to grow melons well next year."
Golden autumn August. The corn in each county matured.
The two-palm-long corn cobs were broken off from the corn stalks taller than people. Tear open the skin wrapped around it to reveal the golden-yellow corn kernels inside, some tinged with red, neatly and plump.
After stripping off the outer skin and drying, rubbing off the grains, sifting out dust and dregs, and weighing over the scale, the average yield per mu was nearly 1,000 catties.
Among the 17 counties, the lowest average yield per mu was still 920 catties, and the highest was 1,011 catties.
The news spread, and all the people in [Su Prefecture] boiled over. They rushed to the streets and even to the county government to kowtow, just to express their heartfelt thanks.
In September, after finishing the wheat, they started digging potatoes.
The average yield per mu in the whole [Su Prefecture] is around 2,650 catties. As soon as the news came out, the people cheered with joy again. [Su Prefecture] was saved, and after this year, they would never starve again next year.
[Jiang Wenyuan] ordered the counties to strictly guard these seeds until they were distributed to the people next year. But if something goes wrong, bring your head to see me!
The county magistrates dare not be negligent, if something really happened, this superior would dare to kill.
After the potatoes were finished, the cotton from each county also ushered in the biggest harvest in history.
This year, with enough water for irrigation, the people of each county worked hard to grow cotton while ensuring that their families would not starve to death.
[Jiang Wenyuan] sold all the cotton collected to the merchant who originally won the bid. In this way, the people not only earned money, but the winning merchant could also obtain more profits from these cotton than before, making everyone happy.
When the two parties exchanged, [Jiang Wenyuan] asked the big cotton merchant if he could subscribe 10 million 6-jin new cotton quilts from him.
The big cotton merchant was shocked: "Yes, but sir, why do you need so many cotton quilts?"
[Jiang Wenyuan] worriedly said: "Winter is coming soon. The soldiers in the [Yumen Pass] camp still don't have new quilts. Their quilts are all from a few years ago and have long been hardened and not warm anymore. As a member of Great Xia’s people, I also want to do my part for them."
The big cotton merchant said, "That's the case. Why doesn't the young master deduct the cotton from a county?"
[Jiang Wenyuan] shook his head and said, "How can I change the agreed acreage temporarily? It should be. If I privately deduct it, it would be a breach of faith. A person has no credit and cannot stand, as a prefect, I cannot destroy the Great Wall and do things that break faith."
The big cotton merchant was deeply impressed by his integrity. In the end, the 6-jin new cotton quilts, which had a market value of more than two taels of silver each, were sold to him at the ultra-low price of 1.8 taels.
10 million, even 1.8 taels of silver each, would have to be a full 180,000 taels. The two parties signed a sale and purchase contract. [Jiang Wenyuan] first gave a deposit of 50,000 taels. It was agreed that the remaining 130,000 taels would be paid in full before the New Year.
In fact, just him alone, even if he was plucked clean, he couldn’t come up with 10,000 taels. These were all asked by his precious daughter to buy.
In addition to the tax revenue from her fiefdoms and fiefs, the 30% dividend from the [National Medicine Bureau] in the [Capital City] given by Qiu the Divine Doctor was 20%. This year alone, the dividend was nearly 100,000 taels of silver.
Because of her teachings of the Heavenly Medicine skill, her senior martial brother insisted on giving her 20% of the profits from the Capital City and He An Hospital, which was another huge sum. In addition, there was the "Warm Wool Spinning Mill" outside Su Prefecture City. Without even counting those ingots of gold, she was a bona fide little rich woman.
Now she and her family did not worry about food and clothing, and her brothers also had promising prospects. She still had the Spirit Realm as her greatest assurance.
Rather than letting these coins grow moldy in her hands, she might as well take them out to do some more meaningful things. She planned to donate something to a military camp every year starting this year.
After the cotton had entered the warehouses, this year's autumn harvest was officially declared over. After Jiang Wenyuan had finished compiling all the data on the various crops, he hurried to the capital with the information.
At the end of September, Warm Wool Spinning Mill received large batches of sheep’s wool and all kinds of pelts pouring in from the outlands. At the same time, the mill’s various wool yarns and wool products were also sold with the caravans to destinations all over the country.
Also spread out at the same time was this new fashion of knitting wool, which became all the rage, popular throughout the lands south and north of the Great River.
For the young ladies of moneyed families, this activity not only helped pass the time, but the clothes and gloves woven were light and warm, both practical and able to please the elders in the family, truly the best choice.
Girls from poor families could choose to knit sweaters at the embroidery workshops or clothing stores in exchange for wages. Unlike delicate embroidery work, this only required slightly nimble hands and feet to do, so they had an additional source of income.
In mid-October, the first snowfall of the winter came to Su Prefecture.
When Jiang Yuqing braved the heavy goose feather-like snow and brought the convoy of cotton-padded quilts, consisting of various pack animals that stretched for miles, and appeared outside the Yumen Pass camp, everyone was shocked speechless.
The few generals who had rushed over after receiving the news also widened their eyes in surprise, stuttering while pointing at the endless caravan, “Lass... what are you doing?”
Tuan Zi said, "Winter is here, so my father and I have brought everyone some quilts."
Qin Yijian could not help twitching at the corner of his mouth. “How many quilts is this? It couldn’t possibly need this many carts for just a few. Tell me, how many exactly?"
"One for each person!"
One per person. His camp had 100,000 troops. That was 100,000 quilts. 100,000 quilts - how much money was that?
Good heavens! The Jiang family of Qingzhou does not seem to want to live any longer! They must have emptied their family vaults!
From last year until today, look at how much stuff the Jiangs had sent over already. Boots, livestock, vegetables, grain, fruit, and now 100,000 quilts too. They had practically become half the quartermasters for their camp!
Qin Yijian had lived to this age, but this was the first time he had seen an official who did not earn a single cent, yet still paid money in.
To have such a minister was His Majesty’s blessing, Great Xia’s blessing, and their blessing as well.
Qin Yijian was inclined to decline the gifts, but when he thought of the troops’ stiff bedding quilts that resembled bricks and provided no warmth at all, he could not bring himself to refuse after all.
In the end, red-eyed, he knelt before Jiang Yuqing to offer his thanks. "Qin pays deepest thanks to Marquis Jiang and the young miss for their great kindness!"
This shocked Jiang Yuqing into quickly helping him to his feet. Ye gods! Kneeling like this would shorten his lifespan. It really would!
The 100,000 quilts were delivered into the camp and distributed immediately that very day. The camp was as joyful as if it were New Year’s. As the troops touched the new soft quilts, they thought to themselves that this young miss of the county was truly a kind person. There could not be a cuter girl in this world.
In addition, Jiang Yuqing had also brought a batch of ointment for chilblains and some prepared medicines for treating colds from wind-chill, as these would be in high demand during winter..
She had dismantled packaging late into the night for three consecutive evenings in the Spirit Realm to prepare these medicines. After unpacking them, she rewrapped every single one in xuan paper, tiring her to death.
Jiang Yuqing stayed at the camp for three days. Aside from teaching the military doctors, she also went through battlefield first aid drills again, lest everyone forgot after too long a time.
When she left the camp to return home, Qin Yijian directly assigned Wei Lingjun to lead a squad to escort her back, despite her attempts to politely decline.
Because this was the highest tribute they could offer!
